Ex-care home worker guilty of abuse on UK island

LONDON 
An ex-care worker at a former home for troubled children on the English Channel island of Jersey has been found guilty of indecently assaulting teenage children.

Gordon Wateridge was convicted Thursday on nine assault charges by a jury.

Jersey, a British territory off the coast of France, has been dogged by reports that staff at the island's Haut de la Garenne children's home beat and sexually abused children in their care in the 1960s and 1970s.

Investigators said the 78-year-old Wateridge is the first person prosecuted following a major inquiry into abuse allegations at the home.

Judge Christopher Pitchers said Wateridge is likely to be handed a jail term when he is sentenced at a hearing next month.